Catawba Slips By Francis Marion And Wingate Downed By Mount Olive On Day One Of NCAA Southeast Regional

MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. - Fifth-seed and 19th ranked Catawba College used a late-inning rally to edge ninth ranked and second seeded, Francis Marion, 2-1 in ten innings and the top seed and second ranked Mount Olive College defeated sixth-seeded Wingate, 6-0, in first day action of the 2011 Division II Southeast Regional Tournament at Scarborough Field. The other game on day one saw third seeded UNC Pembroke beat the fourth seed, Columbus State, 6-0.

On Friday, Wingate and Francis Marion will play at 11 a.m. in the first elimination game and Mount Olive and Columbus State (32-18) square off at 3 p.m. Catawba will face UNC Pembroke (43-10) in the nightcap at 7 p.m.

Tournament website: http://www.moc.edu/index.php/2011-ncaa-ii-baseball-southeast-regional

Catawba 2, Francis Marion 1 (10 innings)

Brett Underwood (Greensboro, NC/SW Guilford HS) tied the game with a two-out single in the ninth and Josh Hohn (Greensboro, NC/S. Guilford HS/North Greenville) singled home the winning run in the tenth as fifth-seeded Catawba (41-13) rallied for a 2-1 win over Francis Marion (37-15).

Francis Marion starter Don Sandifer kept the Indians off balance for much of the game, but after being held scoreless for eight innings Catawba got off the mat and Underwood produced the big hit to force extra innings. Austin Moyer (Greensboro, NC/SE Guilford HS/USC Upstate) singled with one out in the ninth and pinch-runner Keaton Hawks (Lexington, NC/E. Davidson HS) moved to second on a wild pitch. After a strikeout, Underwood laced the first pitch he saw to left field to drive in the tying run.

Julio Zubillaga (China Grove, NC/Carson HS) singled off FMU reliever Jarrott Hooks to open the tenth and was sacrificed to second by Ryan Bostian (China Grove, NC/S. Rowan HS/Montreat). Hohn then came through with a single to left and Zubillaga scored without a throw to give the Indians a 2-1 edge.

Nick Lomascolo (Mooresville, NC/Lake Norman HS) had matched Sandifer in a battle of each league's Pitcher of the Year. The sophomore lefty sat down the final eight batters to post the 10-inning complete game win. Lomascolo allowed just four hits, walked one, hit one and fanned one as he improved to 9-3 on the season.

Francis Marion took the lead in the opening inning. Michael Wilson was hit by a pitch to start the bottom of the first and was sacrificed to second. He moved to third on a fly out and scored on a two-out single by Preston Shuey. Sandifer allowed five hits and struck out eight in his nine innings. Hooks (4-1) took the loss as he allowed a run on a pair of hits in the tenth.

Underwood was the only player on either team with two hits. Catawba held a 7-4 edge in hits, will neither team connecting on an extra-base hit.

Mount Olive 6, Wingate 0

Mount Olive sophomore right-hander Carter Capps (Kinston, N.C.) tossed a three-hit shutout to lead the second-ranked Trojans (42-7) past Wingate (34-21) 6-0.

Junior infielder Stephen Rodgers (Sandy, Utah) was two-for-four with an RBI and run scored to lead the Mount Olive attack. Senior outfielder Jason Simone (Utica, N.Y.) was two-for-three with an RBI.

Senior outfielder Cale Rogers (Snow Camp, N.C.), junior outfielder Dodson McPherson (Graham, N.C.) and freshman infielder Cody Shelton (Charlotte, N.C.) had the three hits for the Bulldogs. McPherson's hit extends his hitting streak to 15 games; he has now reached safely in 50 consecutive contests.

The 'Dogs looked to threaten early, getting a lead-off single from Rogers, followed by a one-out single from McPherson, putting two on base with one away in the first inning. Capps struck out the next two hitters to get out of the early jam.

The Trojans would not waste their opportunity in the opening frame, getting a hit batsman and single, followed by an RBI single from Rodgers to make the score 1-0. A lead-off walk in the third would come back to haunt the 'Dogs, as Mount Olive took a 2-0 lead on an RBI groundout from Westbrook.

Mount Olive needed only one hit to plate two runs in the fifth, getting a sacrifice fly and a Wingate error to go on top 4-0. Another RBI groundout in the sixth pushed the lead to five. The final run of the night scored in the eighth inning on a wild pitch, giving the Trojans a 6-0 lead.

Capps allowed three hits on the night and only one after the first inning. He moves to 13-0 overall on the year, as he struck out nine and walked three. Wingate senior left-hander Chris Nelson (Greenville, N.C.) took the loss, falling to 6-4 overall on the year. He allowed four earned runs on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings of work, striking out four.